Out of the ballpark

I am, perhaps, the only male in North America who does not follow American football; but I do follow a bit of professional baseball. This may have to do with my Sigma personality and an upbringing that involved sandlot baseball and closely following the Detroit Tigers, and running crosscountry (a solitary, lone wolf kind of sport) in my formative years.

Thus; my metaphor…. My virtual acquintance, writing under the psuedonym ‘Amir Larijani’, has written a few pieces that knock the ball out of the park. You will find them here, here, here, and also here.

On a Christian Dating Site…

Seen recently on ChristianCafe: A woman who states that she wants “her man to be an extension of her.”

Seen just now, in response to a Cafe question prompt about how their last relationship ended: “Well, that’s a BIG question isn’t it?? ha! Do you want me to tell you it was on Biblical grounds? If you are THAT type of person to ask this, then we probably won’t be a good match anyway!

I was in recent months at a small group hosted by the fellowship I affiliate with, and met a man who asked me if I was married. I said, “no, divorced. And biblically free.” What does that mean, “biblically free?” He asked me.

These are, of course, outliers. But outliers are useful for marking the frontier, aren’t they?

Orcs

How then shall we live?     Over at Samson’s Jawbone, a great piece.    

“….

Tolkien has been roundly criticized on more than one occasion for presenting a world that is “Manichaean”: that is to say, in Middle-Earth pure good fights on one side, pure evil on the other, and we know which is which, and we know who we are supposed to root for. And we know this is unrealistic. Tolkien himself was aware of such criticisms, and in his personal letters, he admits that “of course, in real life, there are orcs on both sides.” Indeed there are. Are we emboldened to fight for our culture when we realize that half of “our culture” is on the Adversary’s side to begin with?…”

No Angry Words

An excellent post to mull over while you prepare for marriage.

The Gingerbread Man

Go see if you can catch the Gingerbread Man (warning: requires thought, and some background familiarity with the the Train Wreck in Slow Motion over at Sovereign Grace.)

Credo #26: The acceptance

You are not rejected by God because of your single state. *You are not rejected by God.* This is not to be parsed out as “God is so loving, that He even accepts you as a single because He is is so gracious.” Utter pious bullsh*t. He accepts you in that you are His son. Your state may be such that He moves you to marriage; or even perhaps that He moves you away from it, for a season, or for your life. These things are immaterial to His acceptance of you. This all being said, marriage is His gift, and is meant to be received with Joy for those have it.

In the gospels we read that those in Heaven “neither marry, nor are given in marriage.” In this way, singles model that life we will have in Heaven, just as those who are married live out a picture, or a representation, of Christ and the Church. Do not receive condemnation for being single.

Related Credo: #95.

Not perfect yet….

Another great posting from that Single Christian man writing from New Zealand.

I find myself often gaining insight and encouragement from this man’s writings; and read him often. I commend them to you as well.

Ceruleum Sanctum

My virtual travels (after a short season of physical travel in Eastern Europe) cause me to come across this site, with this article. I found much to be gained from staying there a spell. What he says in the linked article goes double or so for single men.

The Thinking Housewife

See this posting by “The Thinking Housewife” on feminism, viewed through the prism of the fiction of C. S. Lewis.*

There are feminists and there are feminists; and there are misandrists. Pray take away from the essay what the essay gives to you; not which you project onto it.

*Yes, the link is in fact to someone else’s writing the Housewife’s. But I want you to check out her site as well.

Credo #27: Mercy

Forgiveness is a separate notional matter than walking in mercy. A good conceptual way to “frame” the difference between the two is something like “paying both trust and forgiveness forward.” Now, it’s possible to go all Pharasaical with this, and try to make others, or yourself, feel condemned for not being merciful enough; or to attempt to press people to show you mercy. We are, in fact, in the full counsel of scripture, commanded to not do things like show unsanctified mercy . Think of mercy as a kind of “bias” towards people, rather than a chain that forbids you from protecting yourself and others.

“Grace” is also something else than “mercy.”

For a good working definition, think of mercy not as the withholding of judgement but rather the canceling of judgement; the dissipation of judgement. This is something that can be very hard; I know this. Your test may not be whether you blow off the waitress messing with your lunch order; it may in fact be something like surrendering up to God some of the worse pains and betrayals that life, and people, can throw at you.